I recently bought a 1981 CJ5 un-seen. How can I tell if it is a Renegade I, II, etc?? I have only seen pictures and wont drive it until I re-deploy home. Also the seller emailed me and said that he recently installed a 304 V8. Any chance this is a Jeep engine or not?

jeep made the 304 in the 70s and early 80s so most likely the PO switched from a l-4 or l-6 to the v8.
the best way for us to help you is to post a pic of your jeep. but renegades were mostly decals and some extra features.

First of all, if it's a 1981, there's no way it's a Ren I or Ren II, those were only made in 1970 and 1971, respectively. After 1972 they were all just called "Renegade" and were no longer a performance package with the special suspension and frame upgrades of the Ren I and II, but were essentially just an appearance package. There NOTHING special about a 1981 Renegade that could not be had on an CJ-5. Just some vinyl decals and a few upgraded appearance options, all of which could be ordered separately. So in short, if you want a Renegade, buy the reproduction decals and slap em on, and no one will ever know the difference. There is no VIN coding or anything else that distinguishes the later Renegade package. Some of them had a clock, but it doesn't appear to be unique to the Renegade, it was part of the Laredo package though.

Yes, the 304 is a Jeep (AMC) engine and was factory available in the CJ-5 in 1981.

correct me if I'm wrong and this is just Renegade II's but they had 304 already installed, power breaks, ps and tach and clock, fuel skid and roll bar- and because it was such a big hit it became a model instead of a special edition. so it was a regenade it would have a 304 already in it.

correct me if I'm wrong and this is just Renegade II's but they had 304 already installed, power breaks, ps and tach and clock, fuel skid and roll bar- and because it was such a big hit it became a model instead of a special edition. so it was a regenade it would have a 304 already in it.

Okay, you're wrong. The Renegade II was a 1971 option only, a year before the 304 was available, and it had a Dauntless 225 V6.

By 1981 the Renegade package was just stickers, and could be had with any engine.

Yeah Renegade 1 and 2 were offered on a limited basis in 70 and 71 after that they just called them Renegade. They were offered on a limited basis until 1976 and then became a dress up package, they no longer automatically included a V8, instead they became standard with a 232ci six with the 304 V8 optional or the big 258ci six. After that the Renegade was no longer a true muscle car. It was nice that they were no longer a limited model though so many people could enjoy them. My 80 is a Renegade with the 258, the decals are gone but the guy that restored it gave us a photo album of before and after pics of it. It was white before restoration and you can see the faded orange Renegade decal stretched across the hood. I'd like to get new decals for it someday